Paving machine



Sept. 18, 1934.

A. C. RASMUSSEN PAVING MACHINE Filed 001:. 8, 1932 6 Sheets-Sheet l gwuenl oz H4 v1 6. Rasmussen.

P 1934- 4 A. c. RASMUSSEN 1,973,885

PAVING MACHINE Filed 001:. 8, 1932 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 gwuentoz Hal/1v 6. RHSMUSSE/Y.

dtbommr A. c. RASMUSSEN PAVING MACHINE Filed Oct. 8. 1952' Sept; 18, 1934.

ie i

6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Sept. 18, 1934. A. c, RASMUSSEN PAVING MACHINE Filed Oct. 8, 1932 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 fit w/v C. FHSMUSSEM Sept. 18, 1934. A. c. RASMUSSEN PAVING MACHINE Filed Oct. 8, 1932 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 gwuento'o flLVl/V. 0. RHSMUSSE/V.

Sept. 18, 1934. c. RASMUSSEN PAVING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Oct. 8,. 1932 fig w/v 6. Rasmusszw.

Patented Sept. 18, 1934 1,973,885 PAVING MACHINE Alvin C. Rasmussen, Indianapolis, Ind. Application October 8, 1932, Serial No. 636,897

15 Claims.

, In street and highway construction, it is customary of course to lay the surfacing material of the street or highway on a suitably prepared subgrade, the surfacing material being then leveled and finished off, usually in separate operations. Similar steps are required in the resurfacing or repairing of streets and highways already laid, so that a firm smooth surface, as free from irregularities as possible, will result.

The operations of spreading the surfacing materials, of leveling such spread materials to the proper grade, and the finishing off of the surface of the spread and leveled materials has heretofore required three successive and distinct operations. The present invention provides a machine which will substantially simultaneously spread, level, and finish preparatory to rolling or tamping the road surfacing materials, thereby effecting a very substantial saving in the amount of time required for operations of this character. The machine is adapted to handle road surfacing materials such as sand, gravel, bituminous material and concrete, either on new subgrades or on old roadways on which a new wearing surface is to be placed; and the machine is equipped with instrumentalities whereby bridging of irregularities in the road surface by the material in question is prevented, these instrumentalities serving to thoroughly agitate the surfacing materials as they are laid on to their foundation, while simultaneously filling in voids which might. otherwise be left in the body of the roadway,

The machine of the present invention embraces a construction which, as has been said above, will'effect a spreading, a leveling and a finishing of the road surfacingmaterials in substantially one operation. To this end the ma chine embraces a portable frame mounted on suitable traction devices which are adapted either to run over the surface of the roadway, or to utilize the usual road forms as tracks for rails upon which the traction devices are adapted to operate. To this end the traction devices conveniently take the -formof wheels or rollers adapted to be fitted with demountable flanges which are used in places Where the machine is desired to utilize longitudinal road forms as track rails upon which to travel. 7 Q

To spread the material upon the foundation which, it is understood, willbe either a newly prepared subgrade or a properly prepared, previously laid roadway, there is provided a spreading hopper which has an open bottom running entirely the Width of the hopper. This hopper forms one of the principal features of this invention, since it constitutes not only the material spreading device but also includes the leveling and finishinginstrumentalities for the con crete which is being laid upon the prepared surface. It will be understood that the term concrete as herein employed refers not only to concrete aggregates as commonly defined in this road building art, but also to materials such as sand, gravel and bituminous materials, as all such materials can be handled by the machine in similar fashion.

Since the hopper is to perform at least three coordinating functions it must be provided with suitable instrumentalities for imparting the desired operation upon the material being laid. The hopper has an interiorly operating spiral or screw conveyor for evenly spreading the material therethrough, and has positioned therebeneath along the front edge of the hopper a strike-off blade which facilitates the distribution of the material flowing from the hopper on to the surface to be covered. In view of the fact that the machine is adapted for reciprocatory travel along the roadway, to accomplish suitable action upon the depositedmaterial when the direction of travel of the machine is reversed, this strilre-olf blade serves to permit only sufiicient material to flow out of the hopper as is required to bring the new surface to the desired grade- Afterthe machine has traveled back. to a certaindistance, it automatically reverses the direction of travel, and then on the forward travel, a blade provided along the back side of the hopper opening will scrape excess material forward.

The arrangement of the hopper constitutes also an important feature of the invention. The hopper is mounted so that it will tip back and forth as the machine reverses the direction of travel. This may be accomplished in one instance by mounting the hopper on the same shaft on which the front supporting wheels are carried, the hopper being so arranged that when it is in a vertical position both the front and rear strikeoff blades are approximately about one inch above the finished level. By means of the necessary mechanism the hopper is automatically tipped backwards so that the rear strike-off blade is carried at the desired. strike-off level,

at which time the forward strike-0d blade will be approximately two inches higher; this will prevent the carrying forward of any slight excess of surfacing material ahead of the forward blade, a feature which is of importance as it will be apparent that during the backward travel of the machine, if excess material be caried ahead of the back blade, this material would be left on the surface of the roadway when the machine travels forward, thereby producing lateral ridges in the surface of the finished roadway. tilting of the hopper and the provi sion of the strike-off blades accomplishes the desired leveling and finishing action on the surfacing material virtually simultaneously with the spreading of the material on the foundation. Mechanism is of course provided for timing the tilting of the hopper with the reversal of the direction of travel of the machine. All of the details of these constructions will be clarified in the descri tion as it hereinafter proceeds.

In order to prevent any depressions or irregularities in the foundation to be bridged over bythe surfacing materials as they are laid, it is desirable to provide a plurality of harro-w teeth on the forward cutting edge sothat they provide a raking of the material in addition to the scraping produced by the strike-off blades by means of which the surfacing materials are thoroughly brolren up as they are laid; in this way a very eiiicient compacting leveling and finishing action may be obtained.

Furthermore, to facilitate the spreading of the materials the hopper is desirably providedwith a leveling screw or conveyor, which may be actuated as desired in eitherdirectionlongitudinally of the hopper to correspondingly convey the materials desired through the hopper for uniform spreading of the material along the road foundation. Edge blades are provided to prevent fiowof aggregates from the ends of the hopper over the road forms orrunway.

The invention may take several forms, two of which are illustrated inthe accompanying drawings.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 represents aside elevation of one form of machine embracing the principles of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the machine shown in Fig. 1, and illustrating certain of the driving and control instrumentalities.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view illustrating fur-- ther details of the driving mechanism included in the form oi the invention shown in Fig. 2.

Figi re 4 is a side elevationof a cam member employed to oscillate the hopper inthe manner previously indicated.

Figure 5 is a plan view of the cam member of Fig. 4..

Figure 6 is an end View of the cam of Fig. 4, the view being taken at right angles of Fig.4.

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a. somewhat different type of machine tothat illustrated in Fig. l, but embracing similar principles of' the invention;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary plan view of the drivinginstrumentalities employed in the modification of Fig. '7; Y Fig. 9 is a side elevation, partially in section,

of one of the supporting wheels ortraction devices for the machine, illustrating the detachable flange therefor, as previously mentioned;

16 represents a vertical sectional view of an adjustable which may be employed in either type of machine, illustrated in Figs. 1 and 7, whereby the height of the leveling and finishing instrumentalities may be adjusted relatively to the roadway surface, the View being taken approximately on the line 10-10 of Fig. 11; and

Fig. 11 is an elevation of the bearing of Fig. 10, showing the adjusting mechanism thereof, the view being taken at right angles of Fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is a view, partially in section and partially in elevation, of the construction and mounting of the edge blades for preventing flow of aggregates from the ends of the hopper over theroad forms, and

Fig. 13 is a plan view of this structure, taken on the line l3--13 of Figure 12.

Fig. 14 is a partial view of the forward strike 01f blade, showing the harrow teeth.

As has been previously indicated, the drawingsillustrate two different forms of the invention although it will be apparent that other modifications-may be made without departing from the-spirit of the invention. Referring first to the form of machine illustrated particularly iii-Figs. l, 2;and 3, it will be observed thatthe machine comprises ail-engine A, traction devices B and a hopper C, all of which are operatively mounted upon the frame D of the machine.

' The engine A is of the usual type of internal combustion-engine, and needs no particular description as it is of entirely standard construction. The traction devices B, and the remaining mechan'ismto' be hereinafter described in detail are all driven from the engine A through suitable drive instrumentalities which will be described ingreater detail hereinafter. The traction devices B are inthe form of wheels or rollers adapted to'travel either on thesurface of the roadway orupon the road-forms usually providedwhere new roadway construction is being laid 'To'this end the traction devices B are, in eachinstance, provided with a detachable flange 1, which is secured in position by removablebolts 2, so that when desired to run the machine along the road forms, the flanges 1- may be bolted in position, by the bolts 2, which may be removed whenever it may bedesired to runthe machine over the roadway surface itself. The traction devices are mounted upon suitable shafts 3, which are driven by suitable driving means which will be described in detail hereinafter.

The hopper C is a distributing hopper for the materials being used for surfacing the roadway. These materials which may be sand, gravel, bituminous materials; or concrete aggregates, or any equivalent road surfacing materials, are charged into this hopper C-which has an open bottomand which is disposcd'at a suitable distance above the surface of the roadway. This hopper is mountedupona shaft 4, illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 as being positioned in the frame of the machine midway between the traction devices B. It-is from this hopper that the materials are spread upon the roadway. For this purpose and to accomplish uniform spreading action, there is provided within the hopper the spiral conveyor 5 which acts as a distributing screw for the materials. This screw 5 is mounted also on the shaft 4. -It has been indicatedabove that the hopper C not only spreads the material; but serves also to level the spread materials and to act upon them in such manner as to prevent bridging of the materials over depressions and other irregularities in the roadway surface, to thereby assure a uniform and solid layer of spread material. To accomplish this'purpose, the hopper is and 6 along the forward and rear edges of the open bottom of the hopper; and as previously indicated, the forward blade 7 may be provided with harrow teeth 7a for working the materials laid by the machine. I In order to efficiently level and finish the surface of the. roadway, this hopper C is providedwith mechanism for tilting back and forth on the shaft 4 in timed relation with the automatic reversal of direction of travel of the machine over the roadway. This brings us therefore to the consideration of the power transmission and driving mechanism for the various elements of the machine. It will be observed that suitably mounted on the frame Dof the machine is a shaft 8, carrying twoclutch coupled stub ends 8a and 8b, and beneath this shaft and operated therefrom is a shaft 9 which drives the traction devices 18 over suitably power transmitting means. Suitably disposed between the shaft 8 andthe engine A is a third shaft 10.

The engine A is provided with a clutch 11 of desired standard construction, which clutch may be referred to as the main clutch, and is also provided with reduction gearing 12 for suitably reducing the speed of rotation of the mechanism. A sprocket illustrated for purposes of strength as a double sprocket 13, is directly driven by engine A; and poweris transmitted from the 5 sprocket 13, over sprocket chains, or equivalent power transmitting instrumentalities 14 to a sprocket 15 mounted on the shaft 8. The stub end shafts 8a and 8b, aforesaid, are concentric with shaft 8, the outer ends of the stub shafts being mounted in the frame of the machine, as will be apparent from Figure 2, for example, the

inner ends of the stub shafts being supported in clutch devices as will be hereinafter more spe-f cifically explained, by means of which clutch devices the stub shafts are rendered independently operable, being aligned with the shaft 8 by means of suitable pilot bearings mounted inside of the respective clutch structure. This being a standard and commonly used construction, it

is not illustrated in the drawings.

It has been indicated before that there is positioned interiorly of the hopper C a spiral conveyor 5. This conveyor preferably acts only after the hopper has been charged with aggregates from a truck or equivalent charging device, 5&-

and serves to distribute excess material andto level out the material within the hopper; To this end, the conveyor screw is located above the bottom of the hopper, rather than at the bottom thereof.

' spreading action, so that it is desirable to provide means for reversing the direction of rotation of the conveyor when .such excess accumulates, so that the materials may be brought back by the conveyor and readily discharged in a uniform manner. For this purpose, the stub shaft 8b is provided at its outer'end with a pinion 19 meshing with the gear 20 on the stub 'shaft 21, which stub shaft is provided with a sprocket 22 over which passes the sprocket chain 23 to drive the sprocket 24' mounted on the other end of conveyor shaft 4.

In order that the pinion 19 does no drive continuously and simultaneously with sprocket chain 17, and in order to independently the actuate the stub shafts 8a and 812 for actuating the conveyor 5 as aforesaid, there are provided the clutches 23 and 24, in which are mounted; respectively, the inner ends of the stub shafts 8a and 8b, as has been mentioned above. Ac-

tuation of sprockets 16 and 22 is accomplished therefore by the selective actuation of these clutches 28 and 24, in a manner which will be apparent. V v

1 It has been mentioned also previously that when the machine has traveled in a certain distance in one direction, it automatically reverses its direction of travel, and that the distributing hopper is mounted so that it will tip back and forth as the machine reverses the direction of travel. The mechanism enabling this tipping movement of the hopper totake placewill now be described.

t will be noted that the shaft 8 is provided with a sprocket 25, which drives the sprocket 26 mounted on the shaft 10. The shaft 10 carries the instrumentalities enabling the hopper to tip to thereby cause the reverse traveling of the machine, while holding the hopper against tipping during the said reverse travel; while-then releasing the hopper for opposite tilting motion with again'a corresponding reversal of travel of the machine. The aforesaid instrumentalities include a positioning cam 27 located at each end of shaft 10, and mounted for rotation with this shaft. These cams 27 may be desirably though not necessarily, of the shape shown well in Figure 4, and they engage during their course of rotation, a pair of rollers 28 and 28a, which are mounted upon the arm 29 provided with a slot 30, allowing the arm to oscillate back and forth, on the bearing 31. As the machine travels along the roadway, and actually is scraping the ma terial laid on the road surface, then due to the friction or to the dragging of the hopper with its rake-off blades and its teeth upon the laid aggregates there is always a tendency for the hopper to be rotated or tilted in the opposite position from the one which is proper for that direction of travel. However, the configuration of the cams 27 is such that this tendency is resisted by the engagement of the rollers 28 and 28a until the cams have rotated in such position that the rollers riding in engagement with the cam peripheries reach the point where the arm 29 yields under the tilting tendency of the hopper to release the hopper for tilting movement. This action is repeated upon reverse movement of the machine, and the hopper C will tilt back and forth in predetermined time intervals. It is to be understood that the shape of the cams may be changed to vary the tilting action of the hopper; i

' As has been indicated previously, it is desirable, in order to accomplish a thorough finishing and leveling action, that the machine automatically reversesits direction of travel substantially coincidentally with the oscillations ofthe hopper. It will be recalled that it has already been said that the shaft 9 drives the tractiondevices B, and inorder to accomplish the desired reversal direction of travel of the machine, there are provided driving instrumentalities interconnecting the shaft 8 with the shaft 9, which driving instrumentalities include shaft 8, which drives acorresponding sprocket. 34 on shaft -9 by .virtue. of thesprocket .chain or equivalentdevice- 35. The driving instrumenetalities also'include a gear 36 on the shaft, 8, meshing. with the gear 37 on'shaft 9. When. gears 36: and. 37 are operated obviously shaft. 9 will be rotated in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of .the shaft 8;..whereas when the sprockets 33 and 34 are actuated, the. shaft 9 will be driven in the. same direction as shaft 8. Therefore in order to obtain the proper. direction of rotation of the shaft 9, instrumentalities must, be'provided whereby the. sprockets or the gears may be, selectively operated. Forthis purpose there is provided the double clutch. mechanism 38,.which consists of a pair of expanding'clutches 391and lfiselectively, actuated: by the arm ll through the bell crank 42, to which. is connected the lever, 43, which is se. cured in turn to the hopper C. Therefore as. the-hopper oscillates, the arm i3 actuates the T bell crank 42, which turn 'actuates the arm 41 throwing the double clutch element of the, clutch mechanism 38 either to one side or the other, thereby alternately engaging clutch 39 and clutch 40. By means of this arrangement, the driving sprocket. 33 andthe gear 36 arealter nately'operated so as to rotate the shaft 9 alternatelyin-opposite directions. It will beunderstoodthat the driving gear 36 0n the shaft 8 is of the same size as the driven gear 37 on theshaft 9, so that-wh n the gear 36 is clutched, shaft 9 rotates at the same speed-as, shaft 8, so that the machine willtravelrinthe corresponding direction a distance corre: sponding to the'time'interval between the shift ing-v of the clutch member 38. However, the sprocket 33 is slightly smaller than the sprocket 34 so that when the driving sprocket 33 is clutched shaft 9 rotates at a slower'speed than shaft 8, and in the same time interval as re-, quired for travel in the aforesaid direction, the machine will not travel oppositely as far. In this way the gradual forward travel ofthe ma-. chine is accomplished.- It will be'understood that when sprocket 33 is clutched, gear 36 is idle and when gear 36 is clutched, sprocket 33.

is idle..

, It will therefore be seen that as the machine, gradually progresses alongthe roadway, efficient spreading, leveling and finishing actions'are obtained in a substantially simultaneous manner, and the actuation of the various mechanisms is at alltimes under close control of an operatorthrough thev instrumentalities of the various clutch mechanisms described above, which are in turn controlled by suitable levers, as indicated in Fig. 1. In this figure lever 44 represents the control lever for themain .clutch ll; lever l5 represents the control lever for the forward ro tation of the distributing screw; lever 46 is the leverfor reversing the direction of the rotation of the distributing screw, and lever 4'1 represents the lever for the control of the cam clutch 23a. v

vThe form of the invention just described possesses among'other advantages, that of having the distributing hopper supported substantiallyv midway of .the front and rear traction devices. This means as the traction, devices are raised,. due to going over a hump which might exist either in the forms or on the surface of the roadway, the dressing edges of this hopperv will only be raised or lowered one-half the distance that either the front wheels or the rear wheels may be raised or lowered. e

In the modification of'the construction illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8 there is illustrateda somewhat simpler form of the machine, although the principal-features of the invention are the same as'in the; type already described. It will be seen from Figs. 7 and Sthat the distributing hopper is .mounted between the front traction devices rather than at a point midway between the front and rear traction devices, as in the form of the machine just described. In Figs. 7 and 8, A represents the engine, B the traction devices, and C thehopper. These parts are constructed entirely similar to the corresponding parts A, B, and C previously described. In the form of Figs. 7 and 8, however, the hopper C is mounted on the shaft 3a upon which shaft are mountedthe forward traction devices. Otherwise the construction of the hopper C is the same as that of the hopper C. r

In this modified form of the machinathe engine A is provided with power transmitting instrumentalities including a main clutch 11a and suitable. reduction, gears 1201., operating a sprocket drive 13a which in turn, through the medium of a sprocket chain 14a, drives the sprocket 15a, thence rotating the shaft 80. This shaft-8c isprovided with a sprocket drive 25a frcmwhich the sprocket 26w on the shaft 10a is driven. Mounted above the shaft 10a is. a stub shaft 48, upon which are mounted the sprockets is for actuating the cam 27a, which is also mounted on shaft 48, it being understood that this structure is duplicated on the other side of the machine, two cams for the operation of the hopper being'desirable.

lvfounted upon the-shaft 10a is the gear 87a adapted to mesh with the gear 36a on the shaft 8a.

By means of the sprockets 25a and 26a, the shafts 8c and 10a are rotated inthe same direction, Whereas through the. instrumentality of the gears 36a and 37a, rotation in opposite directions will be accomplished. This action has already been described in connection with the previously described modification of the machine, and the action in the present case is the same as above. I

Actuation ofthe sprocket and gear on shaft 10a is accomplished by the provision of the double clutch element 38a on shaft 80, this clutch element being composed of the corresponding clutches 39a. and 4=0a engageable by a shiftable clutch cone actuated by the bell crank- 420,, which is in turn actuated by the lever arm 43:]. secured suitably to the hopper C. When the'h opper Cf is rocked, clutches 39a and 40a will-be alternatelycngaged and disengaged so that themachine will travel back and forth overthe roadway in timed relation with the rocking of the hopperrand since the gears 36a an'd37a are of the same size, and the sprocket 25a'isslight1y smaller than the sprocket 2611, it follows that there will be a gradual progression of. the movement of the machine over the roadway in a manner entirely similar to that described above.

Obviously the shaft is provided with suitable clutches, similarly as previously described, for controlling the operation and direction of rotationof the conveyor screw positioned in .the hopper. These clutches, having been clearly il-' lustrated in Figs. 2, and 3, are not shown in Fig. 8, it being understood that the construction and arrangement of these clutches are identical with the previously described form.

Also, there is provided the cam clutch 235, by meansof which the actuation of the cams 27a may be controlled. The cams 27c retain or release rollers 28?) and 280, disposed as described in connection with rollers 28 and 28a, and the cams 27a similarly retain or release the reciprocating sliding arm 1% in the manner previously set forth. This arm 10b is slotted at 300; and reciprocates over the bearing 31a, all as previously described. Therefore the hopper 0 oscillates at predetermined time intervals depending upon the relation of the rollers 28b and 280 and the shape of the cam 27a, as described above in connection with the previously described modification; and this rocking motion of the hopper controls of course the reversal of the motion of the machine through the automatic engagement and disengagement of the clutches 39a and 40a responsive to the rocking movements of the hopper. The main clutch 11a is controlled by actuation of the lever iea, while the lever 470; controls the cam clutch 23b. Suitable levers, not shown, will be, understood to be provided for the remaining clutches for controlling the actuation of the distributing screw. 1

By disengaging this cam clutch 23b'the machine may be caused to travel continuously either forward or backward. It will be seen that the cams 27 and 27a are mounted upon sleeves having an enlarged head to prevent lateral movement of the cam and shaft.-' The enlarged head is indicated at 50.

It may also be desirable to provide inltrumentalities for adjusting the height of the machine above the surface of the roadway, so that the hopper may be raised or lowered with respect tothe surface on which the traction devices are to run, therebypermitting the obtaining of the paving surface level not onv the same level on which the traction devicesare to run. It will be seen that the provision of this construction will be desirable particularly where old road surfaces are to be covered with several inches of bituminousmacadam to obtain a new wearing surface. It often happens that these old surfaces are sufiiciently level so that road forms may not be necessary. In this case the removable flanges on the traction devices are taken off and the hopper raised possibly two or three inches, depending upon the thickness of the. material to be applied. The machine can then be operated over the old surface.

'For accomplishing this, adjustment mechanism such as illustrated in Figs. 1,10 and 11 may be provided. It will'be understood that this mechanism is adapted for either form of the invention herein illustrated, but it will be described in detail in connection with the modification shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

To. incorporate this adjusting mechanism, the shaft 4, instead of being mounted fixedly in the hopper of the machine may be mounted in the block 51 through the instrumentality of a bushing 52. The block 51 is enclosed in a casing 53 mounted on the hopper of the machine, the casing 53 and the side wall of the hopper 53a being provided with an elongated slot 54 in which the bushing 52 is mounted to slide. It will be understood that the block 51 also slides within the casing 53. The block 51 is connected at its upper end with a toothed rack 55, connection being made by a pin 56, so that the connection between the block 51 and rack 55 is yielding in character. Meshing with the rack 55 is the pinion 57, which is actuated by the gear 58 engaging the threads of a worm 59 provided on the shaft 60. The shaft 66 is connected with a handle 61 by means of universal joint 61a and turning the handle 61, the shaft 60 and worm .59 will be rotated, the pinion 5'7 actuated, and the rack 55 raised or lowered as the case may be, thereby effecting a corresponding adjustment of the shaft 4 and the hopper C mounted thereon.

The handle 61 may be extended to the opera- .tors position so that the operator can easily and quickly adjust the height of the spreading hopper with respect to the level on which the carryingwheels run. This is especially desirable where an old pavement is to be resurfaced and when the old pavement may vary too much from the desired level. For accomplishing this adjustment under these conditions, any well-known servo-type mechanism may be employed, so that only a slight efiort is required on the part ofthe operator to cause power to operate these adjusting devices at willin either direction and independently of each other. This type or" mechanism is well known and is employed in the usual well known manner; therefore it has not been shown in the drawings, nor need it be described in detail herein.

In order to prevent discharge of aggregates from the ends of the hopper, edge blades are provided along each end or side of the hopper, these edge blades not only preventing the aggregates fiowing out sideways on to the road forms, but also confining the application of the material to the definite desired width. The mounting of these blades is shown in detail in Figs. 12 and 13, it being understood that the illustrated construction is duplicated at the other end of the hopper not shown in the figures. The blade 62 is mounted on the frame D of the machine to abut against the end of the hopper C and is positioned over the road forms, or the like, 63, being relatively close thereto. Theblade is desirably of the shape shown in the figures, and has secured thereto outstanding upper and lower brackets 64 and 65, which are apertured to slidably receive the bar 66, which is of a length sufiicient to extend substantially above and below the brackets.

The blade 62 is carried by the carrying members 6'7 and 68, the former of which is illustrated as being a substantially straight bar bolted to the underside of the frame D, as indicated at 69, and supporting the upper part of the bar 66, while the member 63 is shown as being an angle piece secured to the side of the frame D of the machine by bolts and '71, and being shaped so as to support the lower portion of the bar 66. The bar 66 is held in position by pins, or equivalent members, 72 and 73. Between the carrying member 6'7 and the lower bracket 55, there is positioned a spring '74, which provides a resilient mounting for the blade as the machine travels along the roadway.

It will be understood that the blades 62 extend completely across the ends of the hopper and upwardly sufiiciently far to control any discharge over the road forms at any height of adjustment of the hopper.

. It will therefore be seen that by this invention there is provided'a machine which will effectively distribute, level, and finish road-surfacing materials-in substantially one operation, and which will be applicable either to the resurfacing of an old roadwayor in the building of a new roadway wherein the surfacing materials are laid upon a newly prepared subgrade;

It is believed that the operation of the machine will be apparent from the foregoing description, and that a detailed description of the operation will accordingly be unnecessary.

To load the hopper, trucks containing the surfacing material are backed up along the subgradeto the forward edge of the newly laid surface. The spreaderis then traveled forward to where it is in position to receive the material from the truck it is then stopped until the truck has discharged its load. Since the spreading screw in the hopper is operated in one direction or the other as may be required to spread the material uniformly in the hopper,-the machine consequently will place the material on the subgrade uniformly. It will be understood that suitable clutches are provided to control the tractiondevices so that one clutch or "the other may-be disengaged when the machine has bee made to travel around a section of curved roadway. Clutches of the conventional type are used for this purpose. I

Having thus described my invention," what I claim as new desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a frame, traction devices carrying the frame, a tiltable distributing hopper mounted on the frame, the said hopper being adapted to distribute surfacing materials upon a roadway, andbeing provided with instrumentalities movable therewith for working the spread materials, when said hopper is tilted in one direction, and means lor levelling the materials when the hopper is tilted in another direction.

2. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a frame, traction devices carrying the frame, a distributing hopper tiltably mounted on the frame and adapted to tilt responsively to travel of the machine along a roadway, and mechanism enabling the hopper to tilt at predetermined intervals, the said mechanism ineluding reciprocatory arm connected to the hopp r, a cam for holding the saidarmrigid while releasing the said arm at predetermined intervals'to nable the hopper to tilt responsively to the release of the said arm, and instrumentalities for continuously rotating the cam.- V a 3. In a machine of the character described, in

a combination, a frame, traction devices carrying the frame and enabling the machine to travel along a roadway, a distributing hopper tiltably mounted on'the frame for depositing, distributing, and working aggregates on the roadway,

- and adapted to tilt at predetermined intervals as the machines travel along theroadway, and mechanism for preventing tilting of the hopper between the said intervals while releasing the hopper for tilting at the said intervals.

4. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a frame, traction devices carrying the frame and venalolingthe machine to travel along a roadway, an aggregate distributing hoppertiltably mounted on the frame and adapted to tilt 'responsively to travel of. the machine along a roadway, and mechanism enabling the hopper to tilt back and forth "at predetermined. intervals, the said mechanism including-a rotatably mounted cam, rollersin engagement with thelcam and an arm interconnecting the hopper and cam, the cam being of such configuration as to hold the arm: and hopper rigidly during a portion'of the arc of rotation of the cam, while releasing the arm and hopper during the remainder of the arc of rotation of the cam, thereby enabling the hopper to tilt at predetermined time intervalg and mechanism for rotating the cam.

5. In a machine of the character-described, in combination, a frame, traction devices carrying the frame, a distributing hopper -mounted on the frame, the said hopper being adapted to distribute surfacing materials upon a roadwayand being provided with instrumentalities for level ingand working the spread materials; means enabling-the hopper to tilt during the traveling of the machine, and mechanismresponsive to the tilting of the hopper forreversingthe direction of travel'of 'the machine, the'said-mechanism including power transmitting devices arranged to propel the traction-devices in a forward direction to asomewhat greater extent than'in the reverse direction'to thereby'g'radually propel the machine-along the road-way as the hopper distributes and acts upon the surfacing materials.

6. In a-machine of the character described, in combination,'a frame, front and rear traction-devices carrying the frame, a distributing hopper tiltably mounted on the frame-substantiallymidway between the front and rear tractiond'evices, and"mechan'-ism enabling the hopper to tilt =at predetermined intervals dur ing travel of themachiii'e-alon g a roadway."-

'7. In amachine of the character describedin combination, a name, tractiorf devices carrying the frame, an oscillatable -"shaft mourited 'on the frame; a distributing hopper mounted-on the shaft for distributing the roadsurfacing materials as -the'= hopper oscilla'tes with the said shaft; 'and *a -mech'arii"sm for adjusting thei height of the hopper relativel'y to a roadway" surface being o'pera'ted u'pon, the said mechanism: including "a casingprovidedwith an elongated slot 1 surrounding the said shaft, a bushing for-the shaftmovably mounted in said 1 slot, a block vertically movable within the saidcasing andcarrying a bushing and shaft, and mechanism for'varying the position of the hopper with respect to the shaft. 1

8. In a machine of the character-described, in combination,:a frame,' traction devices carry ing the frame,- a distributing hopper mounted on the frame, the said hopperbeing adapted to distributefsurfacing 1 materials upon a roadway, I

means enabling the hopper. to tilt during-travel of the machine, a mechanism responsivei to the tilting of, the, hopper for reversin'g the direction of :traveLof the machine, said mechanism in eluding-a driving shaft, a driven shaft "actuated with the traction devices','*power' transmitting devices for transmitting power from "the driving shaft to the driven shaft and including a sprocket on each shaft with; interconnecting driving means therefor; and intermeshed gears on each of 'the said shafts; whereby-"the direction of rotation 'of the driven "shaft maybe selec tively reversed," and 'mechanism" for alternately actuating the saidsprockets 'andgears r'esporrsively'to the'tilting-"of the hop er; wherebythe direction of travel of the iria'chi'n'e ver' "a roadway -surface is reversed eaoh tim'e 'the lioppe'r tiltsfthesaid' sprockets and gearsbeing "of such relative size-"so as to 'cause' the' machine toadv'anc'e in r a direction somewhat greater tha'n that of the reversed travel of the machine, whereby the said machine gradually progresses along the roadway.

9. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a frame, a tiltable hopper mounted on the frame, mechanism enabling the hopper to tilt, said hopper being adapted to spread road surfacing materials over a roadway, and being provided with front and rear strike-off blades for leveling the spread surfacing materials, at least one of the said strike-off blades being provided with teeth for digging into the surfacing materials as the hopper oscillates, thereby preventing any tendency of the surfacing materials to bridge over irregularities in the roadway.

10. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a frame, an aggregate distributing hopper, carried by the frame, mechanism for adjusting the height of the hopper relatively to a roadway surface being operated upon, blades abutting the ends of the hopper for preventing discharge of aggregates from the hopper beyond the ends thereof irrespectively of the height of the hopper above the roadway, and means for mounting the blades from the said frame, including vertically disposed brackets on the blades, a bar slidably positioned through the brackets, carrying members secured to the frame and carrying the bar, at the top and bottom thereof, in suitable position relatively to the brackets, and a spring positioned between the top carrying member and the lower bracket to cushion the blade during travel of the machine along the roadway.

11. In combination with a frame having traction devices thereon, a source of power mounted on said frame, power transmitting means associated with the said source of power and said traction devices, control instrumentalities for said transmitting means to couple and uncouple said traction devices with said source, a tiltable hopper mounted on said frame, means for tilting said hopper, instrumentalities associated with said hopper and with said control instrumentalities whereby, when said hopper is tilted, said control instrumentalities are actuated to couple the source of power with said traction devices to move the frame and hence the hopper over a roadway to effect the distribution of surfacing materials contained in the hopper.

12. In combination with a frame having traction devices thereon, a source of power, power transmitting means associated with said source and said traction devices, control instrumentalities for said transmitting means to couple and uncouple said traction devices with said source of power, a tiltable hopper mounted on said flame, having a discharge outlet and adapted to receive surfacing materials and to discharge the same on a roadway, means for levelling the material discharged on the roadway, associated with said hopper, means for tilting said hopper,

comprising instrumentalities operated from said source of power, means on said hopper and connected to said control instrumentalities to couple the traction devices with the source of power when the hopper is tilted, whereby said hopper while discharging is moved over a roadway and said levelling means is caused to level said surfacing materials thus discharged.

13. In combination with a frame and traction devices mounted thereon, a source of power, means for transmitting power from said source to said traction devices, control instrumentalities for said transmitting means for coupling and uncoupling said source of power to said traction devices, a tiltable hopper mounted on said frame adapted to receive surfacing materials and having a discharge outlet for distributing the same to a roadway, a blade on said hopper, means for tilting said hopper, instrumentalities associated with said hopper and said control instrumentalities whereby, when said hopper is moved to tilted position, said blade is brought into engagement with said surfacing materials on the roadway discharged from the hopper, and said control instrumentalities are actuated to move said frame over the roadway and said blade into engagement with said surfacing materials on the roadway tolevel the same.

14. In combination with a frame having traction devices thereon, a tiltable distributing hopper mounted on the frame for receiving and distributing surfacing material to a roadway, means associated with said hopper for levelling and receiving the materials discharged on the roadway, means for tilting the hopper first inone direction, then in another, to bring said means for levelling and working the material into engagement therewith, and means for moving the frame first in one direction and then in the other to draw the levelling'and working means over said materials.

15. In combination with a frame having traction devices thereon, a tiltable hopper mounted on said frame, adapted to receive and discharge surfacing materials upon a roadway, a strike-off blade depending from said hopper, a second strike-off blade spaced from said first strike-off blade and depending from said hopper, means for tilting said hopper to bring one of said strike-off'blades into engagement with the materials discharged from the hopper, means for moving the frame in one direction to draw said blade over the materials thus discharged, and means for reversing the direction of travel of the frame when said hopper is tilted in another direction and wherein said second blade is brought into engagement with the surfacing materials and the first blade is removed from engagement with the surfacing materials, to draw said second named blade over the material in a direction reverse of that taken by the first blade.

ALVIN C. RASMUSSEN. 

